A Shadow in Chiswick
by Well Widget
Summary: A sequel to my stories Shadows at Midnight and Wouldn't It Be Nice: A Journey's End fix-it, focused on Donna and Wilf during the specials. Some people remember Donna Noble, but she doesn't remember her own adventures. Some people don't approve of that. Donna and the Doctor saved a lot of people, now it's time to repay the favour.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimers:** I don't own Doctor Who, or any of the characters therein. This is a JE fix-it.

**Summary:** A sequel to my stories _Shadows At Midnight_ and _Wouldn't It Be Nice_, a Journey's End fix-it, focused on Donna (and Wilf) during the specials.

* * *

Donna Noble didn't like her memory being full of holes, but her family assured her that she would be fine. She tried to believe them, but there was an ache that refused to be ignored. It was more than the feeling that she had forgotten something, it was as if something was missing, like being heartbroken after being left by a boyfriend magnified a hundred times. She would roll over in the middle of the night, open her eyes and look about, as if she should be somewhere else, feeling uncomfortably warm. She had a strange aversion to her normal coffee, and found herself making tea instead, always two on instinct, though she didn't know why. Wilf, her dear old Granddad, claimed it was him, good for his heart, that she was only looking out for him, but she saw through the lie, and the sadness in his eyes every time it happened.

Then there were the migraines. Every time she asked people what she had been doing or tried to discover what she had been doing in the year of her lost memory, the migraines came. They made her skull feel as if it was splitting. She had gone to doctor after doctor, but every time she knew she hadn't found the right one. Her GP, the A&E doctors, even the neurologists had no idea what had put her through such pain. Her mother, oddly worried, told her to ignore them, like a bee. Donna just stopped telling her about it, and thought of Agatha Christie.

As a last-ditch effort, she went to a clinic she had heard about, in London, built where Canary Wharf had been destroyed. It was the odd-man out, a clinic in a financial center, but no one seemed to mind. She got into the blue car she shared with her mother, feeling another migraine start behind her eyes.

The drive was uneventful, much to her relief as she had to mentally command her eyes to focus repeatedly, and then, sooner than she had expected, she was pulling into the car park of the modern building, feeling another wave of nervousness that she always did, going to clinics for this.

The inside was as white as she expected, with only a few people scattered around the room. She fell into a seat, and picked up the latest issue of Tatler.

She was flicking through the pages, surprisingly uninterested, when she felt someone staring at her. "What?" She challenged, blue eyes flashing at the man who looked like a boy playing soldier, with a silly red hat.

"Ma'am." The soldier said, jumping up and offering her a deep salute.

"What you on about?" Donna shot back. "Are you saying I look old?"

The soldier look surprised, but shook his head and sat back down, looking at her in puzzlement, but shook his head. "My mistake."

Before she can correct his assumptions, however, a young man appeared in the doorway. "Donna Noble?" He said, gesturing to her. "If you'll follow me?"

The bit before the doctor showed up was the same as always, if slightly higher tech than she would have expected. She found herself slightly embarrassed about her weight, even though she was probably in the best shape of her life and the questions were answered as readily as possible.

The nurse left with the usual words that the doctor would see her shortly, and Donna was left, looking about at the best reproductions of impressionist paintings she had ever seen as she waited to see yet another doctor, not particularly hopeful. No one had been able to figure anything out yet, after all. So, she convinced herself that this was the last one. The last time she would try. After this, she would listen to her Mum and Gramps. Live in the moment, rather than trying to remember.

Just as she resolved that, there was a knock on the door and it opened with ease. "Hello," the female doctor said easily, her brunette hair bouncing in easy waves. "Donna, is it? I'm Dr. Chesterton, but you can call me Dyoni."

"Pleasure to meet you," Donna said, offering her a smile as she shook her head, already starting to like this doctor more than her previous ones.

"I've had a look over your files and your previous tests, and I think I've found a therapy that may help - it will definitely reduce or eliminate the migraines and may bring back your memories - but I have to warn you that it's experimental."

Donna was surprised, expecting another bevy of tests and a sad shake of the head - or worse, offering to call for a psych consult. "But there's a chance it'll stop the pain?"

"Definitely." Dyoni replied with a smile. "Though we are unsure about it's effect on your memory issues, we'd be hopeful. You look like a perfect candidate."

"Sign me up!" Donna said, getting her hopes up despite herself. "What do I have to do?"

"One injection every week for four weeks, and a course of medications - three pills three times a day, with meals for three months. We'll reevaluate then." Dr. Chesterton told her easily. "If you're certain, we can give you the injection and pills today."

For once, Donna was sure that things were looking up. "Yes." She said, desperately trying not to sound to eager.

Half an hour later, Donna had a sore bum from the injection and was holding three bottles of pills. "So, no alcohol, no smoking, no other medications or vitamins for as long as I'm taking these?" She confirmed with the pleasant doctor.

"That's right." Dyoni replied, holding the exam room door open for her. "And if you go to the front desk, Melissa will make your appointment for next week."

Dyoni Chesterton made sure that the woman had left the building completely, before returning to her office, and activating a hidden switch that revealed a secondary elevator. She stepped in and hit the down button.

Before long, she stepped out and her heels were clicking along a concrete floor. The large main room was dominated by computer screens and CCTV monitors, but the brunette paid them no mind as she headed down a hallway, opening a door and announcing, "Phase one complete."

The sole occupant was a tall ginger-haired teenager, who was sitting in an office chair and facing a wall, and making sniffling sounds that sounded almost like crying.

Dyoni paused, startled. "Mina?" She said slowly. "Are you all right?"

Mina, turned, her large brown eyes rimmed in red, but she wiped at them violently, clearing her throat. "Fine, I'm fine."

"You don't look it." Dyoni said eying the girl up from the toes of her brown boots to the crown of her head. She seemed to want to ask something, than shook herself. "Phase one is complete."

"Brilliant." Mina said easily, ripping a bright purple sticking plaster off her arm. "I suppose it's my turn then. Thank you, Dyoni."

"Anytime, Boss." Dyoni replied, shaking her head. What would Three think of this if they knew? "Good luck."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Doctor Who is not mine. Neither is Birkbeck. I make no money from this.

* * *

Sometimes, Donna wondered what was wrong with her - not the memory loss, that, at least, could be explained away with medicine in a way that almost made sense, even if it didn't make the block of Swiss cheese she called a memory better. No, it was the other things. The things that made no sense.

Like her sudden interest in science, or that she seemed to be suddenly good at it. It was as much of a mystery as her mother's sudden attempts to be kinder - which just made Donna unsettled, wondering if she had some sort of horrible, painful disease where she was going to die horribly. She dreamed of dissolving into fat the other night, which was very disturbing, and woke up with a headache on top of it all.

Still, on a whim, when she couldn't find anything she liked in the library, she had driven by Birkbeck, and thought, why not? Now, after filling out paperwork and catching late enrollment, she was walking into the university, heading to all things, a class entitled Geology of the Solar System I, and what was more, actively excited for it.

Something was definitely off.

She entered the classroom nervously. She hadn't been to school in ages, and was amazed how well she had actually done on the entrance assessment for the course. It was quite a disconcerting feeling, made slightly better by the fact that almost everyone in the room appeared to be older than the average student, which shouldn't surprise her about Birkbeck.

The one exception to the age group looked to be a teenager, siting by herself in the back, who didn't really look like she could be more than sixteen, let alone meet the over-eighteen entry requirements. Her arms were crossed defensively, and she was pulling a face that reminded Donna strongly of when she had been in school, and had made her way by defensively declaring "Do I look bovvered?" at everyone. The girl was even ginger!

On a whim, she planted herself beside the girl, offering her a smile and feeling an odd sense of deja vu, as if they had met before. "Hi," she said kindly. "I'm Donna, Donna Noble."

Mina looked suspicious, but offered the older woman her hand. "I'm Mina. Mina James."

Donna shook her hand, easily, smiling. "I hope you don't mind me sitting with you."

"Not at all." Mina replied, giving Donna the first honest smile she had seen on the girl's face. "I'm nervous, this is my first class."

"Mine too." Donna sympathized. It was hard for her as a thirty-something, how hard must it be at half that? She tried to come up with something mundane as a distraction for them both as they waited for the professor to show. "I like your bracelets." She offered. From what she could see, they were thick leather, with odd circular designs on them. "The designs look familiar."

Thanks!" Mina enthused, looking down at the bracelets that encapsulated her wrists. "I dunno." She said after a moment. "I carved them in a year or so ago, when I got bored. They just popped into my brain." The girl tilted her head at Donna, brown eyes bright and excited, making Donna wonder, again, at how old she was. "Have you ever had that happen? Things just pop into your brain?"

Donna felt oddly close to her in that moment. "All the time." She admitted. "But I have some sort of amnesia. My memory for the last two years is gone, so..." She shrugged.

"I think we'll be good friends." Mina said after a moment. "I don't know why. I just feel that way."

"Me too." Donna agreed. it was as if she had known the girl before or something. She trusted her. The conversation cut off when the professor arrived, and headed to the front.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **Doctor Who does not belong to me. It belongs to the BBC. If it did belong to me, JE would have been very different.

**AN:** Thanks to everyone for reading, especially to those who review of favourite. It really keeps me going. :)

* * *

Donna had discovered something about her pills - well, several things. One, most obviously, her headaches were disappearing, two, it was making sure she ate meals at regular intervals, rather than grabbing something when she had the chance. The only side effect thus far was the strange dreams - giant red spiders, giant wasps, giant beetles. She had no idea why she kept dreaming about oversized insects.

She woke up from the beetle dream, unsettled, and sure she hated the blond who kept telling her that she had to turn left. She shook herself out of it, and headed down to a nearby cafe so she could take her morning doses of her pills. It had officially been only a week since she was on them, and already her migraines were disappearing, with today being her second injection of whatever experimental drugs that were solving all her problems, even if they were making her have crazy dreams.

She settled down at a table with a tea and scone, popping her vials and arranging them on her napkin. She took a bite of scone and took the pink one, which always made her eyes water, followed by a sip of her tea and the green one that tasted rather like chocolate. This was all the lead-up for the last pill, which was bigger than the other two, and always took a lot of concentration not to gag on. She finished her scone and tea and got the last pill down, shaking herself slightly before getting up and heading in the direction of the tube station, planning to do some shopping before her appointment at the clinic.

This plan, however, was circumvented when she turned a corner and saw someone familliar apparently fighting with her cell phone - or more accurately, whoever was on the other side of it. It surprised her, but almost instinctively, she slowed to a stop and reached out to put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Well maybe if it's your _subconscious_ telling you something about us, you should go figure out what the _hell_ it means you great sodding..." A trail of expletives followed that Donna thought sounded foreign, but at the same time, she could understand perfectly.

The phone clicked closed and Mina gave a great shudder, so Donna put an arm around her, trying to be as comforting as possible. She didn't know why, but ever since that first day of classes, she had felt protective of the girl, like if she didn't stand up for her, someone would throw her out of a moving train. "Hey, Mina, honey, what was all of that about?"

Mina looked up startled, and her face flashed from anger to panic to despair in quick succession. Donna recognised the transition, but she didn't know from where, refusing to let go as the girl wiped at her eyes, obviously embarrassed by her outburst. "I'm all right."

"We both know all right is code for really not all right." Donna said easily, not at all sure where she had gotten that, eying the girl up and down. Some things never changed from day to day, like the thick leather bracelets and the odd raspberry coloured tights and boots, but today her eyes were definitely red and her skin was blotchy. "Come on, out with it."

For a moment, it looked as if the girl was going to resist, but then she crumpled slightly. "Boys are stupid." She said quietly.

Well, if that didn't make all the sense in the universe, Donna didn't know what did. Just like that, all her plans were turned on her head. "Aren't they just. Come on, you look like you need some ice cream, movies and a good cry."

When Wilf got home from his meeting, stuffed with a few too many meat pies, he found an odd sight. He blinked and wondered for a moment if the treats he wasn't supposed to have had gone to his head, because there were _two_gingers sitting in front of the telly, only half paying attention to the tosh on the screen and eating out of the ice cream carton with spoons.

"You better get some bowls, you know how much your mum hates that." He said finally, deciding not to address the fact that there was another person there, just in case he was hallucinating.

Donna heaved a sigh of great annoyance and picked up the carton, going back to the kitchen for bowls, shouting over her shoulder. "Mina, this is my Gramps, he's one of the good ones. Gramps, this is Mina, she's in my class."

The smaller redhead turned and smiled at the older man, holding out her hand to him. "Mina James, nice to meet you."

"Wilfred Mott, but you can call me Wilf." The kindly man said with a smile, wondering if he could sit down or not. "You understand all this stuff Donna's been bringing home about stars?"

"Well..." Mina drew out, as Donna came back into the room with bowls of ice cream, though whether there was any left in the carton was a mystery.

"She must for all that she never takes notes, just doodles her circles." Donna said easily. "I think she's some kind of genius. She can't be more than sixteen."

"I'm eighteen." Mina said easily, taking a bite of ice cream. "Look younger, I know."

"Can't be." Donna said, shaking her head. "You were only thirteen when I saw you last." Somehow, the moment the words were out of her mouth, she stopped, tilting her head to the side. Mina, too, had stopped, backwards spoon hanging in her mouth. Donna shook herself. "Sorry, don't know where that came from."

"S'okay, I just have one of those faces." Mina dismissed, and then her face contorted as she attempted not to cry again. "Just ask Adam."

Donna frowned, instinctively wanting to say that was ridiculous, but resisting the urge. "What happened exactly?"

Mina slammed her spoon into the bowl, carving a large spoonful out with vigour, looking at anything but the woman's face. "He went to this party, and this girl spiked his drink with MDMA..."

She didn't need to finish, Donna knew this story, and Wilf quietly crept away, not wanting to hear such things. "I think Nerys did that to one of my boyfriends once, she swears she didn't, but I know better."

"Anyway," Mina said, wiping her eyes. "Now he's going on about 'subconscious desire for space' and some shite, and I can't even muster up the courage to go home and face him."

"Then you'll just stay here." Donna said in a tone that brooked no argument. "The couch folds out into a fine bed. It's not glamourous, but there are no blokes you have to worry about. You're too young to be worrying about that anyway."

Mina's eyes went wide. "What about your mum and granddad?"

"Gramps will love it and I'll deal with my mum." Donna said firmly. "Now, finish your ice cream, I'll drop you off at your flat to get some things together while I go into London for an appointment."

"I can't thank you enough for this, Donna. You're brilliant." Mina replied, brown eyes shining.

"Hey, I know what hard break-ups are like. I had a fiance who tried to feed me to giant spider." Donna replied, and then paused. Where had _that_come from? Sure she had heard about Lance, about how he had supposedly run off with another secretary - but spiders?

Mina laughed. "You say the most amazing things, Donna."

"Don't I just." Donna replied, distracted, mind full of flashes of fire and ice-cold water. "Don't I just."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Doctor Who, and am making no money. If I did own Doctor Who, things would obviously be very different.

**AN:** Thanks to everyone for the reads, reviews, and follows. You guys make my day.

* * *

Dyoni Chesterton looked up from the test results on one of the many screens in the main base under the Torchwood-owned clinic. "You're late." She said simply, raising an eyebrow at the ginger-haired girl who had just appeared without warning a few feet away from her.

"Unavoidable." Mina replied, shaking out her hair, and taking off the vortex manipulator from her wrist.

"What happened?" Dyoni asked curiously, as she turned the monitor she was looking at so that the younger girl could inspect the results.

Mina ignored the question for a moment, inspecting the test results. "Her body's assimilating a little too fast." She hit a few keys on the keyboard, recalibrating a few of the variables. "We need to slow it down - the timing has to be perfect. We'll add an inhibitor to the injection today, that should do the trick."

"Mina," Dyoni repeated. "What happened?"

"I ran into Donna this morning and she heard me have a big fight with Adam. So, I'm going to be staying with her for awhile."

"What? What happened? You and Adam have been nothing but perfect since I met you." Dyoni asked, shocked.

"He apparently fell for some sex pheremones and a few glamours and couldn't tell it wasn't me, _despite_the psychic link." Mina made a face at the screen, running a simulation of the effect of the medications. "And now he thinks it's his subconscious telling him something."

"Oh, Mina..." Dyoni said in a soft voice. "I'm..."

Mina didn't let her get the second word out. "I'm _fine._Let's just get this next treatment done, shall we? I have to go back and pack yet before she gets out of here."

Donna arrived back at the block of flats, just as Mina was coming into sight with an olive green kit bag. She watched her, unseen for a moment, move around the buildings. She knew she had only known the girl a week, and the rational part of her knew it was ridiculous, that she didn't know anything substantial about the girl, but ever since her memory had gone, she had been relying on her instinct. It seemed to be working, at any rate.

Unfortunately, this meant that when Sylvia came home that evening to Donna finishing up dinner, she was faced with playing host to a strange "friend" of Donna's. This led to Sylvia getting into an argument with her daughter as the much younger girl hid in a corner, trying not to be seen.

Wilf took pity on her, quietly leading her out to his hill as the two argued. When they were far enough away from the house, Mina looked up at him. "Maybe I should go." She said with a shrug. "I can get a room at a hotel or something."

"Don't be ridiculous." Wilf said easily. "Sylvia's just a bit protective of Donna, what with her memory gone and all." He gestured up the hill, telescope barrel in his free hand. "We'll just look at the stars until they're done. There's no interrupting them when they get like that."

He quickly set to putting together and calibrating his telescope. "I'm always on the look out for them aliens, you know?"

"Can't blame you." Mina admitted, lying back on the blanket to stare up at the stars. "Never know when they'll show up." She grinned slightly. "Except Christmas - something always happens at Christmas."

"I wonder what it'll be this year." Wilf said thoughtfully, not about to debate that fact when he knew very well that it tended to be true.

"Nightmares." Mina said softly, almost too quiet for Wilf to hear. "Everyone will have bad dreams."

Wilf looked at her, where she was looking at the stars and breached the question that had been bubbling in his mind all day, or at least since Donna had said something earlier about the 'last time'. "You knew Donna before, didn't you, when she was travelling?"

Mina sat up and looked over at him sadly. "Donna and the Doctor saved my life."

Wilf frowned, looking worried. "The Doctor said if she remembered her mind will burn."

Mina sighed. "I know. But that's why I came - she saved my life, I want to save hers. She's surviving now - but the Doctor didn't realise how much he would be taking, and didn't have enough time to figure something out, not really - and then later, he thought she was happy, had everything she needed..."

"She misses him." Wilf admitted, suddenly looking his age, and almost collapsing in on himself. "All those wonderful things she did..."

"That's why I'm here, to give her back the stars." Mina murmured. "I want to make good on what she did for me."

The two sat in silence, looking up at the stars for a long time, then, an accord reached between them


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Doctor Who. If I did, Donna would still be a companion and things would have gone very differently.

**AN:** I am so sorry this took so long! I'm afraid I got eaten by real life, which is not as fun as being eaten by fic.

* * *

Wilfred Mott was accustomed to late nights. He spent so much of his time watching the stars that it wasn't uncommon for him to find himself coming back from his hill to a barely lit kitchen. In fact, it was so common, that at first, he didn't realise he wasn't alone, until he heard the tell-tale sniffling.

Putting down his thermos, he flicked on the light over the sink and was startled to find Donna weeping. There were no heavy sobs, just small sniffles and almost constant tears. It was so unlike his little general, that he sat beside her and took her hand. "What's all this now, Donna?"

"He's so sad." Donna murmured softly. "He didn't think any heartbreak could be worse than losing everything - but now he's lost even hope. He's never lost that." She wiped at her eyes. "He's being a stupid, _stupid_prawn, because I'm not there to stop him, and part of him is in love with the idea of death, while part of him is fighting tooth and nail to survive." Donna's hands trembled around her mug of tea, gone cold now. "I don't even know what I'm saying Gramps, but I miss him. I miss him so much it aches - and I don't even know who."

Wilf wrapped his arms tighter around his granddaughter, and shushed her, letting her cry. "I'm sure, whoever he is, he misses you too, and I'm sure he's smart enough to come back for you." He certainly prayed it was so, for both their sakes.

Donna recovered from her ridiculous cry the next day, and shook herself. Her Gramps was so sweet to her, putting up with insanity that seemed to be leaking from her brain. She was so off-put as to call up the clinic and make an appointment. She didn't think she'd be able to get Dr. Chesterton at such short notice, but they fit her in before lunch even. So, she wasn't too upset when she had to sit and wait for longer than usual in the waiting room.

Still, she surprised herself when she recognised one of the women leaving, with a young man. "Sarah Jane!" She said happily, knowing instantly that she _liked_this woman, though she couldn't really place where or why. "How are you?"

"Donna?" The older woman said in surprise. "Are you all right? What are you doing here?" Sarah Jane had no idea that the redhead's memory had been wiped, or that she was back home.

"Dr. Chesterton's been treating me for headaches, but it's been creating the oddest dreams, I thought I ought to see her about it." Donna smiled at Luke and held out her hand. "Is this your son, Luke?"

"Yes." Sarah Jane said easily. "Luke this is Donna, a friend of the Doctor."

Somehow, Donna knew she wasn't talking about Dr. Chesteron, and she would have asked more, but the nurse came out and called for Donna to follow her back, just then, as if the universe wanted to keep what she knew from her own mind just a little longer.

"I understand why you're concerned, Donna, I really am." Dyoni said with a cluck of her tongue. "I did warn you that we didn't know what kind of effect the treatments would have on your memory. At this point, however, I would be concerned about changing your treatments, since the headaches have disappeared, but if you want to risk it..."

"No," Donna said quickly. "I don't want to risk the headaches coming back. I'll take the bugs and big blue box."

"Big blue box?" Dyoni said, somewhat surprised. "My parents talk about a blue box all the time, a police box."

"Really?" Donna said.

"Really." Dyoni replied. "I shouldn't do this, but..." She grabbed a paper towel from above the sink and scrawled a number on it. "Here, give them a call, maybe they can help. It's a long shot, but it can't hurt."

Donna took the towel, grateful for the phone number, and found herself wishing she had asked Sarah Jane for hers, before leaving the clinic and heading home, wondering why the blue box was so important.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Doctor Who. Sorry.

**AN**: Thank everyone who kept up with this story even over my break. I love you all.

* * *

In the final days of Earth, everyone had bad dreams. Well, almost everyone. In those days of December, when the first of the dreams came, Mina was a hyper little bee in the kitchen, and when the Mott-Noble family came down to breakfast, they found a spread and a smiling girl that didn't quite fit with the low, disturbing feeling they had felt since waking.

Only Wilf had an inkling, remembering her warning that everyone would have bad dreams. They certainly didn't seem to be bothering her, but perhaps she had seen them already. He didn't know anything about how time travel worked, after all. He resolved in that moment to begin looking for the Doctor.

* * *

Later that day, Donna found herself standing nervously in front of a very nice house in Cambridge. She had no idea why she had even felt the urge to go through with this - it seemed so crazy, meeting her doctor's parents because of some dreams about a blue police box. Didn't that violate some laws about conflict of interest or something?

But if it got her answers, her suspicions wouldn't matter.

She took a deep breath and knocked more gently than she usually would on the door.

The woman who opened the door looked, at first glance, too young to be Dyoni's mother. "You must be Donna." She said easily. "I'm Barbara, come in, come in. So glad you decided to visit - you sounded very unsure on the phone."

"Well, it's not everyday a doctor tells you to talk to her parents." Donna said, looking more closely and seeing fine lines around the woman's eyes.

"It's not every day someone has dreams about a flying police box." Barbara answered easily.

It was probably the oddest conversation Donna had ever had. Before she could really think about it, they were talking about Nero and Pompeii, a gigantic brain and being shrunk to a tiny size - all with an ease of familiarity, without any real explanations being needed. Something in Donna even kept her from asking serious questions about who and how until after she was wandering home again.

* * *

"You've been seeing a woman?" Mina repeated, later that night, looking at the stars with Wilf. "What did she look like?"

"Just...a woman." Wilf said as he peered through his telescope. "Professional looking, older than Donna, but not as old as me, sort of brown hair." He made a face at trying to describe someone who was so mysterious. "I wish you had come to the church with me."

"I don't do churches." Mina replied, distracted. "Well, I don't know who she could be, but she seems to want to protect the doctor, so I guess we'll add her to our merry band." She chuckled slightly to herself, staring up at the stars. "It's almost the time of drums."

"Drums?" Wilf repeated. "What does that mean?" He had already put out the call for his organisation to help him find the Doctor tomorrow.

"It means, he comes tomorrow." Mina said slowly, tapping her fingers on a rock. "So much happens tomorrow. And we give Donna back her stars."

Wilf looked over at her, curious, again, about the friend Donna had brought home from before. Who had travelled through space and time to help her. "What will you do once she's saved?"

"Me?" Mina answered. "I'll go somewhere, somewhen, where there's war and strife and people to help. There's always someone who needs help, always another place to run.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** Still do not own any Doctor Who. If I did, things would be very different.

**Author's Note:** Somewhat back, I hope!

* * *

Wilf knew grim determination when he saw it. He might not have seen war the way many did, but he knew the resolution of someone who had to do something that they were unsure of, or something that would put them in harm's way, but that they felt they must. He saw it in Donna's friend that morning, as she poked at sodden banoffee crunch cereal, unusually quiet.

Donna noticed it too. "Would you like to come with me today, Mina?" She asked.. "I know it's hard, being away from your parents at Christmas, and with Adam being a berk..."

"I'd like that." Mina said, with a small smile.

"Our Donna will take care of you." Wilfred said happily, and smiled a bit when the girl winked at him. Breakfast passed slowly, but by 1300 hours, Donna and her friend had left, and Sylvia had gone upstairs to do whatever it was she needed to do, so he could make his excuses of Christmas drinks and head out on his mission. The silver cloak would get it done.

* * *

And they did. The poor Doctor looked so perplexed when The Silver Cloak struck, and he had a bit of a hard time getting him away from the lovely Minnie, but he finally had him settled down in the right cafe at the right time, or at least, he hoped so. The Doctor was the best thing that had ever happened to his Donna, and if Mina was right, well, this would be golden.

The Doctor looked as bad as Donna had said though, more drawn and thin than usual, a kind of resignation he had seen in soldiers too. Like he was marching to his death, so Wilf did his best, filling the time with recollections of what had happened before, trying to find the right words.

"I keep seeing things, Doctor, this face, at night...I..."

"Who are you?" The Doctor asked, shocking Wilfred. Didn't he know? He almost felt offended.

"I'm Wilfred Mott."

"No, people have waited hundreds of years to find me, and then you manage it in a couple of hours."

"Well, I'm just lucky, I suppose."

"No, we keep on meeting, Wilf. Over and over again, like something's still connecting us."

"Yeah, but what's so important about me?" Wilf asked, little knowing he was echoing Donna's thoughts much of the time she and the Doctor had flown together.

"Exactly. Why you?" There was a pause, as if he was coming to terms with something. "I'm going to die."

The announcement shocked Wilf. "Well, so am I, one day."

Somehow, the Doctor couldn't bear the thought of that. "Don't you dare." he said, with a shake of his head, even though he knew it was inevitable.

"All right, I'll try not to." Wilf replied with a chuckle.

The Doctor swallowed as if he was trying not to cry. "But I was told… 'He will knock four times.' That was a prophecy. Knock four times and then…"

Wilf hesitated, struggling with the idea. "Yeah, but I… thought… When I saw you before, you said your people could change, like, your whole body."

"I can still die. If I'm killed before regeneration then I'm dead." Wilf struggled with that as the Doctor leaned forward. "Even then, even if I change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away. " Wilf saw his lip tremble and he remembered again people too young, still afraid, even though the war itself was over...sure of their death, and his heart broke a littlle. For the Doctor, for Donna, even for the strange woman in the church and Mina.

The Doctor was looking out the window, and saw why Wilf had brought him here, to this specific cafe.

* * *

The Doctor stared out the window, feeling like he couldn't bear to rip his eyes away. There was Donna, his Donna, searching through her pockets, looking straight ahead, looking away from him, all flame red hear and a serious expression.

"I'm sorry, but I had too." Wilf apologised, but the Doctor barely heard him, moments ticking through his mind as he stared at her, separated from him by only feet through a slight pane of glass.

"Look, she can get better." Wilf said.

"Stop it," The Doctor replied, finally ripping his eyes away from Donna to stare at Wilf for just a moment, before his eyes went back, without his say-so, as if they were starving for the sight of her.

Wilf was hopeful. "No, but you're so clever. Can't you bring her memory back? Just go to her now! Go on, just run across the street and say hello!"

The Doctor shook his head, tears coming to his eyes despite his mental orders for that not to happen. He wanted to, he wanted that more than anything else. "If she ever remembers me, her mind will burn and she will die!"

The Doctor watched as Donna threw something in the backseat and wagged her finger at the cop, her expression one that could make Cybermen run away in fear. "Don't you touch this car!" Both men chuckled, and the Doctor shook his head. "She's not changed."

Just then, a sprightly young ginger girl popped up from behind the nearest Christmas tree, waving for Donna, and holding half-a-dozen shopping bags. She was familliar, but it took the Doctor a minute to realise why.

"Ah, there she is." Wilfred said. "That's Donna's friend, Mina James, she's been staying with us. They met in Donna's astronomy class at Birkbeck."

"I know her." The Doctor said in shock, watching the tableau as they loaded the bags into the car. "We met her before."

Wilf knew that, but he kept playing along. "She's a sweet girl, her boyfriend tossed her out."

The Doctor kept trying to place her, but then something clicked. "Nah, that doesn't sound right, he was ready to defend her to the death on Midnight." He stopped as he realised what he said. "Midnight! Donna and I met her on Midnight!" He was panicked suddenly. "You've got to get her away from her, if Donna remembers..."

"She's good for her, Doctor." Wilf said, with a shake of his head. "She makes her get involved again. Mindd you, she still gets this look on her face, like she's the saddest person in the world and doesn't know why..." He trailed off. "Found her crying in the kitchen not that long ago, crying her eyes out, because someone had lost hope, and was being a 'stupid prawn.'"

The Doctor looked serious. Donna shouldn't have known that, something was going on, and it had something to do with that girl. Now, all he had to do was save Donna from himself, again, and save Time itself before being killed by the Master.

And time was running out.


End file.
